The Bright Future of Democracy is in Education

Does democracy have a bright future? This brief paper addresses this question and argues, that, thanks to Prometheus, political “animals” can build a better-managed corral for their common living which includes a better provision of education for all “animals.” A historical analysis of the long past may be used to discern what lies ahead. Democracy requires education and virtue, or to put it in one word, it requires pedagogy. The higher the level of pedagogy, the closer a politeia would come to an ideal democracy. Sometimes democracy is confused with equality in everything. Political “animals” are not equal, and political systems which treat people with different abilities equally have no future. An ideal society should discriminate according to levels of education obtained and the acquisition of material wealth. If the politeia is ideal, then each citizen has the same opportunity to become more educated and wealthier. In this free competition of being educated and the acquisition of individually made material wealth, ideal societies can flourish as Hesiod postulated in the 8th Century BCE and become stable despite Polybius’ predictions in the 2nd-1st Century BCE of the inevitable historical cyclicality of political systems. Keywords: education, pedagogy, democracy, oligarchy, monarchy, ochlocracy, tyranny, ideal politeia, Polybius

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s heroic techno-utopia

In this paper, the author attempts to answer the question about the nature of the ideal society presented by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in his utopian novel Beyond the Planet Earth. The specificity of this vision will be discussed by analysing its connections with Tsiolkovsky’s hallmark cosmophilosophical monism, as well as with his naturalistic approach to scientific research. For this purpose, the utopian elements of the vision will be analysed with particular emphasis on the scientific and technological layer. This will allow us to treat the concept as both a technological and a heroic utopia.

MABADI KHAIRA UMMAH DAN URGENSINYA DI ERA INDUSTRY 4.0 DAN SOCIETY 5.0

The 33rd NU Muktamar in Jombang 2015 mandated about 'developing other businesses through collaboration with domestic and foreign parties that benefit the community at large in order to realize the khaira ummah' (AD/ART NU, Article 9). Since the 13th NU Muktamar in Pandeglang 1939, NU has initiated Mabadi' Khaira Ummah (MKU). MKU is the basic principle of forming an ideal society. MKU consists of five basic principles, namely, ash-shidqu (true not lying, trust) al amanah wal-wafa bil 'ahdi (trust, keeping promises, loyal, commitment), at-ta'awun (helping, mutual helping), al adalah (fairness) and al istiqamah (firmness, constancy, consistency). In the midst of the era of industry 4.0 and society 5.0 as it is today, MKU is of course very urgent to provide a harmonious balance so that the goals of industry 4.0 productivity with the human life convenience of society 5.0 in various parts of the world can take place sustainably and full of grace. MKU is also becoming increasingly important alongside the 18 values ​​of character education.

Pemikiran Pendidikan Islam Syekh Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas

This study aims to discuss and examine the thoughts of Sheikh Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas about Islamic education. The method used is a literature study, which uses library data as a source. The results of the study reveal that there are 5 (five) important points of Sheikh Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas' thoughts related to education, namely: First, the purpose of education, namely to instill goodness or justice in humans as human beings and personal self which focuses on the formation of individual personalities and expects the formation of an ideal society, Second, Educational Methods, The method he mostly uses is Tawhid, Metaphors and Stories, Third, Educational Curriculum, is divided into Fardhu 'ain and fardhu kifayah, Fourth Educators, according to Al-attas Educators must have personality and manners Fifth, students, according to Al-Attas, students are required to develop perfect etiquette in science

Taking Up the Practice: Conversion and Buddhist Identity in New Zealand

<p>In a similar fashion to other Western nations, Buddhism is gaining traction in New Zealand. This thesis seeks to answer the question "why do New Zealanders convert to Buddhism?" Implicit within the question is "how do New Zealanders become Buddhists?" My chief concern however, is to address the subsequent question "what identity do convert-Buddhists construct for themselves as New Zealanders?" Employing qualitative sociological methodologies (formal and informal interview with participant observation) I demonstrate a variety of pathways New Zealanders take as they journey towards and embrace Buddhism. While initially using the word "conversion", I demonstrate that this is not a word (or concept) with which the interviewees easily identify. Rather, "taking up the practice" is a more readily accepted conceptual field of the transformation one undertakes from being "not-Buddhist" to becoming "Buddhist". Using methodology informed by narrative analysis, I conceptualize the content of interviews around four factors informed by Weltanschauung - worldview - and explore their inter-relationships: practice/ritual (PR), selfhood (SH), belief (BL) and involvement (IN). I demonstrate that having "taken up the practice of Buddhism" interviewees continued to find meaning chiefly in practice/ritual and involvement. I then locate the interviewees' auto-narratives within a larger socio-historical narrative, that of Arcadia. I take a position on Arcadia, arguing that it is not only a seedbed for a clearly recognizable myth that shapes New Zealand worldview, but it also serves to be fertile socio-cultural soil into which Buddhism is readily planted. The Buddhist practitioners whom I interviewed, in the main, believed New Zealand to be a "good place to practise Buddhism". I explore this notion by drawing on Arcadian images, and by identifying four socio-cultural locales where Buddhism can be seen to be taking on parochial New Zealand characteristics.One articulate interviewee has envisaged New Zealand as a Buddhist Pure Land. I develop the potential of this idea, arguing that the notion of the ideal society, embedded within Arcadia and the Pure Land offer to practitioner-Buddhists a "home" in New Zealand landscapes and social context. In the use of arguments informed by the field of semiotics, I appropriate the current international marketing slogan of "100% Pure" New Zealand, to conceptualise that Buddhist practitioners may indeed seek to create a "100% Pure Land". It is in a new "imaginative order" that practitioner Buddhists in New Zealand will continue to create their own identity and find a turangawaewae, a place of identity in which to stand.</p>

Taking Up the Practice: Conversion and Buddhist Identity in New Zealand

<p>In a similar fashion to other Western nations, Buddhism is gaining traction in New Zealand. This thesis seeks to answer the question "why do New Zealanders convert to Buddhism?" Implicit within the question is "how do New Zealanders become Buddhists?" My chief concern however, is to address the subsequent question "what identity do convert-Buddhists construct for themselves as New Zealanders?" Employing qualitative sociological methodologies (formal and informal interview with participant observation) I demonstrate a variety of pathways New Zealanders take as they journey towards and embrace Buddhism. While initially using the word "conversion", I demonstrate that this is not a word (or concept) with which the interviewees easily identify. Rather, "taking up the practice" is a more readily accepted conceptual field of the transformation one undertakes from being "not-Buddhist" to becoming "Buddhist". Using methodology informed by narrative analysis, I conceptualize the content of interviews around four factors informed by Weltanschauung - worldview - and explore their inter-relationships: practice/ritual (PR), selfhood (SH), belief (BL) and involvement (IN). I demonstrate that having "taken up the practice of Buddhism" interviewees continued to find meaning chiefly in practice/ritual and involvement. I then locate the interviewees' auto-narratives within a larger socio-historical narrative, that of Arcadia. I take a position on Arcadia, arguing that it is not only a seedbed for a clearly recognizable myth that shapes New Zealand worldview, but it also serves to be fertile socio-cultural soil into which Buddhism is readily planted. The Buddhist practitioners whom I interviewed, in the main, believed New Zealand to be a "good place to practise Buddhism". I explore this notion by drawing on Arcadian images, and by identifying four socio-cultural locales where Buddhism can be seen to be taking on parochial New Zealand characteristics.One articulate interviewee has envisaged New Zealand as a Buddhist Pure Land. I develop the potential of this idea, arguing that the notion of the ideal society, embedded within Arcadia and the Pure Land offer to practitioner-Buddhists a "home" in New Zealand landscapes and social context. In the use of arguments informed by the field of semiotics, I appropriate the current international marketing slogan of "100% Pure" New Zealand, to conceptualise that Buddhist practitioners may indeed seek to create a "100% Pure Land". It is in a new "imaginative order" that practitioner Buddhists in New Zealand will continue to create their own identity and find a turangawaewae, a place of identity in which to stand.</p>

NAJSTARSZE (XI-XII W.) FIGURY SZACHOWE WYKONANE W STYLISTYCE ABSTRAKCYJNEJ ARABSKIEJ Z TERENU POLSKI , NA TLE TRENDÓW EUROPEJSKICH ZWIĄZANYCH Z POCZĄTKOWYMI FAZAMI ADAPTACJI W EUROPIE

Chess is a board game, in the Middle Ages referred to as a tabula. During the long way it took since its origin in India in the 6th century until modern times, the subsequent communities left their own, inimitable cultural marks. In India, chess had a deeply mystical nature; Persians used chess to picture the world as a battlefield; Arabs systematised many concepts and took note of the mathematical aspect; Europe made use of chess to define rules that should apply to an ideal society. This shows a perfect understanding of the balance on the chessboard, the mutual dependencies and consistent actions leading to success – both when playing and creating social life. Medieval literature provides an excellent basis for studies of the intertwining cultural trends and describing the reality. In the literature, elements based on playing chess are oftentimes among the postulated modes of education. However, the ideas encountered by the potential users of chess tournaments were best communicated by the figures and the accumulated plethora of notions. An analysis of the changes affecting jackstraws at an early stage of the game’s adaptation in Europe and other territories which took over chess as cultural models, leads to a conclusion that the material from the 11th-12th centuries that comes from Polish collections matches many Latin trends and shows considerable knowledge thereof.

THE CONCEPT OF AN IDEAL SOCIETY IN NIZAMI GANJEVI'S POEM «ISKENDERNAME»

Throughout history, the concept of an “ideal society” and the idea of an ideal state structure have been the focus of attention of philosophers and poets. One of the first who gave a description of a utopian society in the Muslim east was Abu Nasr al-Farabi. After him, the idea of an “ideal society” was presented in his five poems by the Azerbaijani poet-philosopher of the XII century, Nizami Ganjavi. Almost all the works of the great Azerbaijani thinker Nizami Ganjavi are imbued with the idea of an ideal society, an ideal state and an ideal ruler. But a special place it is occupied by his last poem from “Hamse” – “Iskendername”. This article gives a brief summary of Nizami's philosophical thoughts about an ideal society, about an ideal ruler, mainly based on the poem “Iskendername”.

On the question of the structure of the legal ideal in modern conditions

The purpose of this work is to analyze the ideas in the modern socio-humanitarian scientific literature about the structure of the legal ideal. In the course of the study, it was revealed that the legal ideal is mainly considered in the system of axiological culture. The authors propose to structure the legal ideal on the basis of the dialectic of the components of managerial activity. This approach allows us to see that the legal ideal is a dialectical unity of a legal subject, object, means, goals, result, etc. in the system of managerial activity. The desire of mankind to build an ideal society and state on the basis of the legal ideal is a consequence of the movement of man himself towards the ideal. However, real life shows that what is desired is at odds with reality. This discrepancy is natural, but it is measurable and predictable. The digital society poses serious obstacles and problems in the movement of a person to perfection, distorting the very meaning of the concept of “perfect person”. In order to anticipate possible negative distortions of the concept of a legal ideal, it is necessary to conduct systematic studies of its nature and patterns of development, which gives an idea of its structure.